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He’d tossed and turned thinking about that kiss. Her eagerness countered by her quick retreat was a beautiful collision of contradictions. She’d called what happened between them last night “a complication.” He hoped he was able to convince her otherwise. She would only be on Oahu for a few days, but he wanted to take advantage of every moment he could with her. He wanted to taste her lips again and feel her body press against his. He wanted to ask her more questions because she surprised him with every answer.
His brain had circled around those thoughts until the wee hours when he finally fell asleep. The morning alarm came early. Hoku didn’t really care that he hadn’t slept. He was ready to go outside, so down they went. Mano grabbed a latte with a double shot from the coffee shop on their way back upstairs so he could wake up and get ready for work.
Mano was stepping out of the shower when he heard the doorbell. Hoku barked and stood anxious at the door as he slipped into his robe and made his way to answer it. He couldn’t fathom who would be at the door at this hour. It was too early for him to even have his earpiece in yet.
Tightening the belt around his waist, he asked through the door, “Who is it?”
“It’s Paige,” a soft voice answered back.
Without really considering that he was wearing nothing more than a robe, Mano whipped open the door. He didn’t know why Paige was on his doorstep at dawn, but he wanted to find out immediately.
A muffled gasp was her response. Mano adjusted the wrap of the robe around him to make sure he wasn’t exposing anything and ran his hand self-consciously through the wet strands of his hair. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Y-yes,” she stammered. “I’m sorry to come by at such a miserable hour. You’re obviously still getting ready. I haven’t adjusted to the time change and I just uh... I wanted to catch you before you went to work. I wanted to see if you’d be interested in playing hooky with me today.”
“Hooky, pulelehua?”
“Yes, that’s why I came by when I did. Last night you said you wanted to spend some more time with me. You proposed a week together in the most romantic place on earth. I said I would think about it and I did. All night, actually. And I’ve decided that if you want to spend these few days with me, I’m not going to be the one to turn you away.”
A wide smile spread across Mano’s face. When he’d left her last night, he hadn’t been certain of Paige’s answer. In his mind, she seemed like a skittish doe that would flee at any sudden movements. But now his doe was getting bolder. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“I thought that we could spend the day out. I mean, it’s a Sunday, after all, and you own the place. You could take the day off without asking permission, right?”
Mano’s brow furrowed in thought. “I don’t know. I don’t usually leave the property. This is a little short notice for my staff.”
She didn’t bother to disagree with him. Her silence spoke volumes. He supposed she was right. He could leave, he simply never did it. His world completely revolved around the Mau Loa, and mostly by his own design. Nothing required him to be there, on call, twenty-four hours a day. He could have a home he returned to each night instead of converting one of the penthouse suites into his private apartment. He could take vacations and sick days the same as every other employee on site did. He simply didn’t do it. Mano couldn’t think of the last time he’d taken a day off.
“It’ll be fun,” she encouraged with a musical lilt to her voice. “Come on, Mano. Show me everything your beautiful island has to offer. I may never come back. I?
?ve got to make the most of every minute.”
“You absolutely should. I can make some great recommendations—”
“No, I want you to show me Oahu. You can’t spend all your time in this hotel, Mano. There’s a whole island outside your property lines, and I want us to see it together.”
“I don’t spend all my time in the hotel,” he argued, knowing it was a lie. He only made the occasional trip to Maui to see Kal. What was he going to do? Go sightseeing? Snorkel? That was kind of pointless.
“Sure you don’t.” Paige sounded anything but convinced. “What was the last thing you did outside the resort?”
Mano couldn’t answer that question. He had no clue. His groceries were delivered. Most of his other needs were handled at the hotel. He had his assistant order whatever he needed online. His last trip out might have been to the tailor to get some suits fitted the year before last, but he certainly wasn’t going to admit that. Instead, he pushed up his sleeves and raised his hands in defeat. “Okay, you win. You really are a bit of a drill sergeant. Hooky it is.” He took a step back from the door. “Please, come in. I’ll go put some clothes on.”
“You don’t have to—I mean, put clothes on. That didn’t come out right. I’m not asking you to not put clothes on. I just meant that I can wait until you’re dressed. You don’t have to invite me in. Take whatever time you need.”
Mano did his best not to laugh. Paige had the ability to get twisted in her own words in the most endearing way. It was charming. Of course, he wasn’t helping the matter by opening the door fresh from the shower. In this robe, it was likely that she could see his native tattoos and his scars, two things he usually kept hidden beneath his Armani armor. Hell, he hadn’t even remembered to put on his sunglasses before he answered the door. She just seemed to have thrown him off balance last night and he had yet to recover, making one mistake after the next.
Paige sighed heavily. “I’ll wait outside,” she said.
“Okay. Just give me a few minutes.”
Mano closed the door and headed back to his bedroom. He wasn’t entirely sure what to wear for a day of fun on his island home. It had been a long time since he’d even tried. He started by picking up his earpiece from the charging station beside the bed.
“This is Mr. Bishop. Who’s listening?”
“Good morning, Mr. Bishop,” a man’s voice responded. “This is Duke. What can I do for you?”
Duke was the night shift operations manager, second in command to Chuck. “Morning, Duke. Would you let Chuck know when he gets here that I won’t be in today?”
There was a long hesitation. “Are you unwell? Should I have the resort doctor sent up to your suite, sir?”
